Ola Rashwan
Pennsylvania State University, PA·Engineering
3D printing can produce medical implants and devices shaped precisely for each patient. However, most plastics available for printing these parts are either not strong enough or do not resist microbes.
- Fields
Engineering
Materials Science
Biomedical Engineering
- Topics
polyetheretherketone
polyaryletherketone
additive manufacturing
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2027
What they work on
- Test whether adding a dispersion agent stops silver nanoparticles from clumping inside PAEK polymer filament, and improves extrusion into filament with a consistent diameter.
- Determine how silver nanoparticle and dispersion agent amounts affect antimicrobial efficacy, particle dispersion, toxicity to living cells, and the mechanical strength of printed parts.
- Develop an algorithm to optimize extrusion process parameters for polymer nanocomposites, and validate it against experimental results.
- Characterize 3D-printed specimens of the new antimicrobial PAEK nanocomposites for antimicrobial, cytotoxic, thermal, morphological and mechanical properties, to link process settings to performance.
More about the research
This leaves printed devices open to infection, which harms patients and burdens hospitals. This project aims to create a printable material that is both strong and naturally antimicrobial.
Why it matters
Infections linked to implants and medical devices threaten patients' lives and add costs to health care. A strong, inherently antimicrobial PEEK-based filament could let hospitals and device makers 3D-print custom, patient-specific implants and devices that are less likely to become infected.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Ruiqing Shen
Oklahoma State University, OK·Engineering
Optimize thermo-responsive hydrogel formulations, gels that hold water and respond to heat, for thermal resistance, surface adhesion and cooling power as water-efficient fire suppressants.
Steven Kurtz
Drexel University, PA·Biomedical Engineering
Develop and optimize a hybrid additive manufacturing process for carbon-fiber-reinforced polyaryletherketones, combining 3D printing with heat-and-pressure consolidation, using design of experiments.
Yue Zhou
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Daytona Beach, FL·Engineering
Measure how directed energy deposition settings affect both short-range clustering and overall 3D uniformity of micro-scale ceramic particles in printed metal matrix composites, using controlled experiments and advanced characterization.
The school
Pennsylvania State University: 60 labs on PI Pages, $1.3B a year on research, 743 research doctorates a year.
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